Thom Tillis on Welfare & Poverty

No government assistance for those who can help themselves

On Hardball last night, Chris Matthews featured a 2011 video of Tillis saying we have to "divide and conquer" those on public assistance, by getting those who really need it--the sick--to turn on and look down at those who "choose to get into a condition
that makes them dependent on the government."

The "divide and conquer" line seems relevant. Chris Matthews noted: "The goal here politically is to get the sick people to attack the poor people."

Tillis [responded today that he] regrets using the
phrase "divide and conquer" in 2011. "The frustration is that we have people that are abusing the system at the expense of us being able to do more for the people who desperately need the safety net," he said. "My point was to say we need to make it very
clear, government exists to help those who cannot help themselves. And those who can need to do everything that they possibly can to let us free up those resources so that we can do better things for those who desperately need it."